1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications, and more particularly, to a method of notifying telephone users of the receipt and/or deletion of messages in voicemail or other messaging systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many persons use one or more landline phones at work and/or home and a wireless phone while they are away from their landline phones. It is also common for persons to have voicemail or other messaging systems coupled with each of their phones so that they can receive messages regardless of which one of their phones callers dial.
The use of more than one messaging system currently causes problems, however, because a person who receives a message on a landline messaging system will not be notified of the receipt of the message while he or she is operating a wireless phone or other landline phone, and vice versa. With current systems, the person will only be notified of the receipt of a message associated with a particular phone once he or she returns to that phone, resulting in the late receipt of some messages. The use of multiple messaging systems is also expensive and a waste of telecommunications resources.
The present invention solves the above-described problems and provides a distinct advance in the art of messaging systems for telecommunications networks and other networks. More particularly, the present invention provides a method of notifying a user of two or more networks that the user has received a voicemail or other message, regardless of which network the user is currently operating. The invention also provides a method of forwarding all calls or communications directed to a user to a single messaging system that may reside on any network, regardless of which of the user""s phones a caller dials.
The present invention provides numerous benefits not found in prior art telecommunications systems. For example, the invention permits a user to be nearly immediately notified of the receipt or deletion of a message in the user""s voicemail regardless of which phone the user is operating and where the user is located, thus allowing the user to retrieve messages more quickly. The invention also provides messaging services to a plurality of landline and wireless phones with a single messaging system, thus eliminating the need to procure multiple messaging systems for a single telephone user and the costs associated therewith.